It’s legal to push a player from behind. When launching that strategy, however, the team must otherwise comply with all other relevant rules.
When it comes to the quarterback push play, the Eagles have perfected the execution. But there are potential pitfalls. Center Jason Kelce said on this week’s New Heights podcast that the league sent the Eagles a letter alleging that they are potentially lined up offside on the play. Kelce also said guard Landon Dickerson wasn’t offside on the play that he was penalized for being offside against the Commanders.
Coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the situation on Wednesday.
“We’ll just keep our conversations with the league private about anything they said back to us if we turned anything in or anything like that,” Sirianni told reporters. “They do a great job of giving us information and I just want to keep those conversations private with us and the NFL.”
Sirianni nevertheless acknowledged the importance of the Eagles minding their p’s and q’s on the push play.
“We have to make sure that we don’t leave any doubt on the field that we’re legal during that play,” Sirianni said. “Like Jason said, there was an emphasis on that this week. I’m not here to argue whether I thought the call was right or wrong on that. Well, you know, I’m always going to think that we’re right.
“But again, league does a good job of giving us the information. We understand that the referees have a tough job to do. I’m never going to criticize that aspect of it. I know they have got a tough job. Are all the calls going to go the way we want them to go? No. Are they always going to be right? No. But neither is what I do. Yeah, I’ll just keep it at that.”
The Eagles potentially believe that the powers-that-be are looking to clip the wings of a play that has become unpopular, in large part because only the Eagles have mastered it. If that’s happening, it’s only a matter of time until the league office cajoles at least 24 owners into invalidating the play entirely.
